


Pre-First Date

by supercalvin



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Blind Date, First Dates, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-15 02:44:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4590078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supercalvin/pseuds/supercalvin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur Pendragon had never been stood up. He was handsome, charming, and if that wasn’t good enough, he was also bloody rich. So being stood up was just exceptionally rude.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pre-First Date

**Author's Note:**

> [Russian Translation by Elena](https://ficbook.net/readfic/5239373)

Arthur could not believe Sophia stood him up.

He had really thought she was interested in him but here he was: alone at a table for two. It had been sitting at his table for over an hour. Sure, Arthur’s father and Sophia’s father had been the one’s to encourage this date, but when they had met she had practically clung to him. If she hadn’t liked Arthur when they first met then she shouldn’t have played him.

He understood being late, he wasn't the most punctual man in the world either, but she wasn't late. Within ten minutes you're running late. After thirty minutes there might be something wrong.  But after forty-five minutes...He had been stood up.

Arthur Pendragon does not get stood up. He was handsome, charming, and if they didn't like him, he was also bloody rich so they could at least stick around to be a gold digger. So being stood up was just exceptionally rude.

To make it worse, the wait staff at Avalon knew him. It was a restaurant he often took dates, or had lunch with his father or sister. Now they were watching with pitying eyes. He tried not think about it, but it was absolutely horrible to be stood up. He knew he could be overconfident at times, maybe even called cocky or arrogant. But truth be told, his ego was easily bruised. He couldn’t see why Sophia hadn’t liked him enough to at least call off the date. After an hour, with Sophia no where in sight, and no "sorry I'm late" text, Arthur was starting to see that he had truly been stood up.

The waiter came by for the fifth time, a sad smile on his face. "Sir, would you like to order-"

Arthur shook his head and asked for the check, with only a glass of wine on the bill. Arthur was about to stand up when the frazzled man sat down across from Arthur. He looked ran over, seeming to be oddly out of breath.

"I'm so sorry babe!" He said as he sat in the seat across from Arthur. He lightly touched Arthur’s hand "You can't believe the kind of traffic there was! And then Gaius kept me late at the clinic!"

" _Who?_ " Arthur said, feeling stunned and confused. He stared at the man, completely forgetting that he was about to leave the restaurant.

The man flagged down the waiter, who was now smiling warmly at the pair of them. "Hi, a bottle of red wine please. Oh, and I'd like to order the steak. What about you, darling?"

It took Arthur a moment to realize that the man was referring to him. "I'll have the steak as well." Arthur said blankly.

As soon as the waiter left Arthur stared at the man in disbelief. " _What the hell are you doing?_ "

"Look, whoever stood you up is a complete idiot” The man said with an apologetic smile. “You're gorgeous and you looked absolutely miserable pouting here all alone. Let me buy you dinner. It doesn't have to be a date. Just a friend helping you out."

"I don't believe we're friends" Arthur said gruffly.

"Would you like to eat alone?" The man said with a cocked brow.

Arthur tried to think of any reason for why he should stay with this man and have dinner with him, but he found that he couldn't find a reason why he should not. The waiter already had their order and after an hour of waiting, Arthur was starving. It was better than going home to mope about Sophia.

Arthur sighed. "Alright. But I’m paying for my half."

The man shrugged "Suit yourself." He held out his hand "My name's Merlin."

"Arthur" he said as he shook the offered hand. "Now tell me, _Merlin_. Why on earth were you here in the first place?"

Merlin grinned, "Actually, you are the one who is saving me. I was an awkward third wheel with my friends." Merlin pointed over his shoulder to a woman with curly hair and a handsome man. When they saw Arthur look over at them, they gave a friendly wave. "They just got engaged" Merlin said in a conspiring whisper. "It's absolutely disgusting"

Arthur laughed, feeling a little better already. "Well I'm always happy to save someone from disgustingly cute couples."

"I know!” Merlin said, “I love them both to death but they were doing that thing where they feed each other food and compliment each other every two seconds. It was driving me mad."

" _Couples_ " Arthur said, feeling more bitter about relationships due to Sophia.

The waiter came back with the bottle of wine, pouring them each a glass.

Merlin held up his glass for a toast "To being single?" He said.

"To being single." Arthur said as he clinked his glass against Merlin's.

It turned out that Merlin was a nurse at an emergency clinic, which made his fake-excuse for being late make more sense. Arthur shared that he was a businessman for his family’s company. Despite having just met each other, they got along well. Merlin turned out to be very talkative person, which usually Arthur got on his nerves, but Merlin seemed to notice that Arthur needed a distraction. Arthur wasn’t feeling particularly talkative after Sophia.

Merlin seemed to believe that the best thing to do in order to cheer Arthur up was to tell him every blind-date horror story he could think of. Many of these stories were from Merlin’s own personal experiences, and it was an alarming number of terrible dates. Apparently in addition to having several boring first dates, Merlin had also been proposed to on a first date, as well as seeing his date with someone else after they had canceled.

“He tried to play it off that they weren’t cheating!” Merlin said. “ _‘Oh yeah I know I called you to say that I was sick, oh and this man is just my cousin._ ’” Merlin rolled his eyes. “He was a jerk anyway.”

“How do you end up in these situations?” Arthur asked. Somehow Merlin’s retelling of his many horrid dating situations had made Arthur feel better.

Merlin shrugged. “But it wasn’t as bad as this one bloke. He was just so overly sexual. It was just embarrassing. More for him than me.  We we're just eating dinner, first time we ever met, let alone been on a date and he kept trying to… you know.” Merlin made a crude hand gesture.

Arthur choked on his broccoli, and Merlin, the jerk, just grinned at him. "The table didn’t even have long tablecloths! He just kept grabbing my thigh. In the middle of dinner! I had food in my mouth!”

"You don't say." Arthur grumbled as he chewed the rest of his food.

" _Men_ " Merlin said with a huff. "Men are absolute shit at dating."

"I wouldn't know this is my first date with a man." Arthur said.  

"I figured. You look straight as an arrow." Merlin said.

"Not as straight as you think" Arthur said, surprising himself with his own confession. He had never told anyone, not even Morgana, that he was bisexual. Besides the few ill-advised snogging sessions in a dodgy gay bar, he had never been with a man in a romantic situation. He had never seen the point in asking another man on a date, when he knew it could never come to anything.

Merlin looked pleasantly surprised. He gave an easy smile, which Arthur found himself returning.

Merlin was in the middle of a tale about his friend's horrid date gone wrong, when Arthur's phone buzzed in his pocket. "Excuse me" Arthur said as he pulled out his phone. It was Sophia, and Arthur felt his stomach drop. Looking at the time, it was almost three hours past the time they were supposed to meet. Arthur was surprised that dinner with Merlin had taken up so much time. He hadn’t even noticed the time.

Merlin didn't ask who was on the phone, but he looked curious as he sipped his wine. With a look towards Merlin, Arthur purposefully ignored the call, and tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"Anything important?" Merlin asked.

"Not anymore." Arthur said. "If she wanted to be here she should have messaged me hours ago."

"So not a girlfriend?" Merlin asked.

"Just a first date. We were set up through our father’s. It figures she would stand me up."

Merlin grimaced. "Still. It isn't nice. Even then, she could have called it off beforehand."

Arthur shrugged. There wasn’t anything he could do now. Plus, he found that he was having a better time with Merlin than he would have had with Sophia.

The waiter came by and set down their creme brulee, handing them two spoons. With his fingers, Merlin picked up the sugar that sat on top of the cream, and popped it into his mouth. He licked his fingers and Arthur realized he was staring.

Merlin made a line in the cream “My side.” he said with a cheeky smile.

Arthur battled Merlin with his spoon and they ended up laughing and spilling more of the desert than eating it. Merlin stole the strawberry too, and Arthur watched his lips press around it.

After they finished the desert, they sipped on their last of their wine. Arthur felt himself settle, his worry about his date completely erased with Merlin’s unexpected presence.

"So…” Merlin said. “How not straight are you?" Arthur could see through his feigned casualness.

"Bisexual, actually." Arthur said. He paused before he added "Never told anyone before."

"Ever?" Merlin asked.

Arthur shrugged. "My mates would have been fine with it, but my father... If he had any say I'd end up having to marry a girl anyway, so there wasn't a point in exploring the other half of the bi."

Merlin looked like he swallowed a lemon, his lips pursued with distaste. "Probably why your father set you up with that girl, right? To set up a marriage?"

Arthur nodded.

"That isn't right." He paused and retracted what he said. "I'm sorry. We don't really know each other."

"No you're right.” Arthur said with a sigh. “I agree. But I haven't always cared who I dated and I’ve never wanted to date a man before. As you said, men are awful at dating."

Merlin smiled then, and he reached across the table to squeeze Arthur's hand. "Well if this had been a date, you wouldn't have been half-bad."

"And if it was?" Arthur asked. Because now that the opportunity was right in front of him, Merlin with vibrant stories, wide grin, and kind gestures, Arthur wanted to give it a try. Merlin was gorgeous, not anything Arthur pictured he would want, and that made that all the better. He wanted to date Merlin, take him to get ice cream, watch films with him, and press soft affectionate kisses to his high cheekbones. Arthur could see why couples could get overly affectionate in public if they felt any fraction of the fondness Arthur was starting to feel for this kind man in front of him.

"If this was a date?" Merlin asked, looking surprised but pleased nonetheless. "I think I'd ask you for a second date."

"And what if..." Arthur said, dragging his leg gently over Merlin's under the table. "What if I asked you back to mine?"

Merlin  was blushing and he bit his lip, looking coy. He grinned and dragged his leg over Arthur's in return. "I'd tell you that if I was serious, I would want to wait."

Arthur's heart melted. He had never been so happy to hear that he wasn't getting laid. Arthur was more than willing to give a serious try at dating Merlin.

"I think I'd like a second date." Arthur said. "Or maybe that would be our first, since neither of us planned this one."

"Yes, this was really just a pre-first date." Merlin deadpanned.

"Of course. The standard pre-first date." Arthur said with a nod.

They stayed silent for only a moment before both of them started giggling like mad.

Merlin smiled, "Let me give you my number."

They paid the bill, splitting it between themselves after both of them offered to pay. As they exited the restaurant, Merlin’s hand brushed against Arthur’s, and he found himself slipping his fingers into Merlin’s. From such a terrible beginning, Arthur though that his evening ended much better.

"I'm heading this way." Merlin said, gesturing over his shoulder.

Using their intertwined hands Arthur pulled Merlin closer.

"Would it be imprudent to kiss on the a pre-first date?"

"I'm not sure I know the etiquette for a pre-first date." Merlin said, but he didn't pull away. Merlin leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, that left Arthur breathless.

"See you next time?" Merlin asked.

"Next time" Arthur promised.

**Author's Note:**

> Based on this [tumblr post](http://supercalvin.tumblr.com/post/126854216032/danger-days-of-our-lives-likehemmins-imagine)  
> 


End file.
